Reavers on the Seas of Fate - Session Summary 06/26/2016 Today's Episode: The Savage Land Our heroes have Heart of Darknessed their way to Nantambu, met a deranged and mutated traveler, gained the location of a little known Shory flying city crash site, traveled the Shadow Realm to access the Valley of Ulduvai. Our newly minted 8th level heroes are: Captain Sindawe of the Teeth of Araska, the fist-punchin' Mwangi monk (Chris). Chief Gunner Wogan, the pistol-packin' celibate cleric of Gozreh (Patrick). Quartermaster Serpent, the staff-bashin' Ulfen druid/ranger and his snake Saluthra (Paul). Mitabu, a trap-loving Mwangi rogue. Valley of Ulduvai The three-mile-long valley is surrounded by high, glacier capped mountains. A glacier fed river winds its way across the river floor. There is a jungle on both sides of the river. Five buildings, one made of purple glass, sit on the far side of the river. Cultivated fields lie on the other side of the river just outside the jungle. They enter the warm, humid jungle heading toward the cultivated fields. About a mile into the jungle a swarm of monkeys descend from the high limbs to howl at the pirates. They have red and redder bottoms. Serpent decides the monkeys look unnatural. He attempts animal empathy which incites one monkey to scream, Ankkkkkk-kaaattttt-kaattt!!! at Wogan. He shoots the offending creature. Sindawe punches one unconscious while three jump Wogan. He notices yet another monkey trying to steal his gem pouch. More monkeys attach Serpent with one landing a vicious Page 1 of 11
face bite; it snatches a cold-iron butterfly from his belt. Mitabu hides successfully, then throws a bomb! A monkey grabs the bomb in triumph! Its face and arms and nearby comrades are peppered by shrapnel. Serpent smashes two into paste with his orichalcum staff. Sindawe knocks two more unconscious. The monkeys break and run with multiple stolen goods. Wogan kills another with call lightning spell; several more are saved from the electricity thanks to their fiendish template. Sindawe retrieves his shock short spear. Serpent kills one more with his long bow before they enter thicker canopied tree limbs. The pirates gather up the monkey corpses and retrieve several more items. The unconscious monkeys (3) are tied up. Serpent waits for them to revive, then casts talk to animals. Why did you attack? We kill! We kill you all! Who s your leader? The master! No! I am your master! I am the alpha! He intimidates the captive monkeys. Who lives in the city? Monkeys! What sorts? My sort! Any others? Yes! The feathered ones (normal birds). The oozing ones. And the ones that don't taste good. The oozing things are left alone; too much trouble for the monkeys. The ones that don't taste good are many. Who is the master? He is in the city. He is like you (Serpent) and kind of oozy. Who grows the crops? The scaly sorts. Some walk on two legs. They don't smell horrible. Page 2 of 11
Can we speak with your master? Does he welcome visitors? Maybe. Sometimes he harvests life energy. How does he harvest life energy? With his waving hands. Where do you live? Up high. In man trees (buildings). Must live high to avoid the great squeeker! It is great and make weird squeeking (gibbering mouther)... and some smaller ones. Do the monkeys and lizards fight? Yes, but we are mighty and take stuff from them. And they can't climb so they are stupid. Can the great squeeker leave the city? He does not go far from the city. The Lizard People Serpent releases the monkeys upon their declaration, We serve you, new master! They fawn upon Serpent. The monkeys are ordered to lead the pirates to the cultivated fields... they are actually terraced fields. Enormous clods of dung dot the area. Serpent examines a dung pile and declares, Four legs. Probably mythical beasts. Sindawe determines they are elephant scat. The fields consist of millet, oats, rye and one unfamiliar crop. The monkeys become agitated but cannot communicate their concern because the spell has ended. The party ventures further into the terrace fields before spotting lizard people hiding behind trees. Sindawe waves a greeting to them. The lizard folk emerge from the trees. They wear leather armor and carry spears. They wear lots of feathers. They make it clear, despite no shared common language that they want the pirates to leave. Page 3 of 11
Sindawe kills one of the monkeys to demonstrate to the lizard folk, We hate monkeys too! Wogan utters at about the same time the monkey spine breaks, Hey, I am going to try a comprehend languages spell! Sindawe replies, You couldn't have mentioned that 30 seconds earlier. The remaining monkeys attack Sindawe. Sindawe and Serpent kill one more monkey and knock the last one out. Sindawe offers the unconscious monkey to the lizard people. One lizard man says, What are the smooth skins doing? Wogan uses diplomacy and comprehend language to bring the lizard folks into neutral. Another lizard man asks, Should I have them trampled? The first lizard man replies, No. I want to see how this goes. He continues, waving his scaly hands in pantomime, These are our tribal lands. You must go back. Wogan, We can't go back. We want to talk to your chief. He pantomimes a chief hat. The lead lizard man continues ordering the pirates to leave. Wogan pantomimes trade he shows gold exchanging hands (his) for millet. The other lizard says, They want to trade rocks for food? Shall I order the trampling now? The lead lizard says, Calm down with the trampling. And why do you always want to trample everything? Page 4 of 11
This continues for several more minutes before someone does something wrong. The lead lizard commands, Call forth the tramplor! Wogan blasts the lizard men with a lightning bolt. The druidic lizard man casts entangle; millet wraps about the pirates. Another whistles and a whistle answers back from the jungle. Mitabu shoots his pistol and escapes the entangling zone. A triceratops charges out of the trees and gores Sindawe (40pts). Thrown spears mostly miss the pirates. Another entangle spell goes off. Sindawe withdraws, dodges, and spends a ki point for higher AC to escape the triceratops. Serpent charges the triceratops; Mitabu works around its far side to flank. Wogan double moves up to Sindawe. Sindawe dons his hat of disguise Wogan is standing next a lizard man. He heals it for 40pts. Serpent and Mitabu avoid the triceratops attacks and whittle it down quickly thanks to a critical hit (4 intelligence damage) from Mitabu. It performs a low IQ trample exit into the jungle, almost stepping on Mitabu. The lizard men flee using a spell to enhance their speed. Sindawe follows them with the intention of finding their village. Serpent, Wogan, and Mitabu follow as soon as they clear the entangle fields but less quickly. The Lizard Village The pirates follow the lizard men along the river running west to east across the valley. Their village is located at a large lake-marsh feed by the river. There are more than dozen stone huts with vegetation roofs. Page 5 of 11
The fleeing lizard men raise the alarm. The village answers in kind. Sindawe follows close on their heels. Lizard-centaurs answer the alarm along with normal biped lizard folk. All form a battle line at the edge of the village; they are armed with spears. Sindawe drops the lizard man disguise outside the village and waves in what he hopes is a friendly manner. The lizard folk encircle Sindawe who spots older looking lizard folk talk to the three lizard men from the earlier encounter. One elder attempts to talk to Sindawe. Again, there is no common language. Another elder tries painting himself with ashes and tries again with more gesturing. Sindawe quickly gathers he needs to speak. Sindawe explains loudly, My friends and I are here to loot those buildings over there. We hate monkeys. Your enemies are our enemies. Where I come from Mwangi and lizard folk are the best friends. My albino friend is married to a lizard person... like all married men, he is ruled over closely by her. The other pirates catch up. The uneasy peace lasts as both the elder and Wogan uses comprehend languages to allow a dialogue of sorts. The elder says, Smooth skins should not go to the city. You should leave. Wogan translates. Sindawe replies, We have been to more awful and deadly places than that city. We will kill the master, his monkeys, the great whistler, etc... Worst case we go off and get ourselves killed and you have some interesting stories to tell. Best case we kill the monsters there and you have some great stories for years to come. Wogan listens to the reply, then applies his diplomatic skills. The lizards want for nothing and have no trading partners. But they can always use manufactured goods and healing Page 6 of 11
magic. The pirates trade: +1 thundering trident, masterwork light crossbow, masterwork silver dagger, a card deck with monsters painted on the backs, and +1 frost spear. Wogan manages a diplomacy check of 43, building upon Sindawe's earlier indifferent. The village elders welcome the pirates to their village. They are so friendly that they offer to trade druidic potions (barkskin, tree shape, etc...). Both are over the objections of several of the warriors who argue for kill them and take their stuff. A large, mostly grain based dinner is had that night. Hush puppies with meat centers are popular. Sindawe brews coffee which the pirates enjoy but the lizard folk only drink upon a dare. Wogan uses comprehend languages several more times that night to communicate with their hosts. The lizard-centaurs know yet another language. The pirates aren t sure what their deal is, but they seem to be respected members of the clan. Over the course of the evening they elicit more intel from the tribe. We know the terrain well on this side of the river and reasonably so on the far side. Some terrible thing lives in the city but does not venture outside the stones. The monkeys occasionally plague the village. Sindawe offers to help the lizardfolk recover the injured triceratops. He volunteers his own men to help Cthupda, Slither, and Trandoc (the trio from the earlier encounter). They take him up on it. The stones are evenly distributed ring outside the city. The Spider Eater Jungle is on the city's far side. The plain between the river, village and city is the tramplor plains. Bone Lake sits next to the cultivated crops, so named for the many things in it. Hestag the Cruel hunts near the waterfall --- some sort of dragon or lizard. But it does not breath fire. Page 7 of 11
The Spider Eater Jungle is full of spiders and things that eat spiders. An elder declares, We don't go there! Another lizard man declares, I went there once. I was bored. It was full of stingy things and flying stingy things. I will never go there again. Triceratops Recovery Team The pirates plus lizard men return to the fight site. The monkeys are gone, including the corpses. Serpent tracks the trampling triceratops' path. He went that away. He also notes that the earth is disturbed around where the monkey corpses laid. Wogan and Serpent examine it further and decide that something came out of the earth and got them. They enter the Verran Jungle where the air is still humid and warm. There are few insects, indicating a closed ecological system. Serpent leads. The group stops to discuss the trembling earth. They decide that it might be bulettes. The lizard men grow more vigilante as Sindawe pantomimes a what is that? A bulette explodes from the earth and slams down onto Wogan, landing a single claw hit. Mitabu hits the monster with a thrown bomb. Sindawe and Serpent move into melee with it. The monster escapes via burrowing. Mitabu hides. The lizard men, Wogan, and Serpent climb trees. Sindawe waits. The bulette explodes from the earth and pounces on Sindawe who rolls away from it. Wogan shoots it with his railgun. Mitabu does the same with a black powder pistol. Sindawe uses flurry of blows. Serpent tumbles on his approach and kills it with a staff blow. Page 8 of 11
Serpent decides it is a bulette. They are known to eat machines, armor, and magic items. He volunteers to cut it open but the hearty stomach acid has destroyed all of its meals. He is able to rescue a tasty cut of its flesh for the night's supper. The group finds the super dumb triceratops bumping around calmly. Wogan downs a potion of invisibility then sneaks up on the creature, intent on delivering a lesser restoration spell. He does so successfully despite its +24 perception. But it detects him after the spell is delivered; it gores (48pts). The lizard men use their tramplorator whistle to calm the monster. Wogan is able to withdraw from it. Bone Lake The lake is clear, spotted with water lilies. The bottom is littered with shiny bits and bones. There are no fish. Wogan uses his Goz Mask to breath water and see thru mist and silt. Sindawe uses his pirate's eyepatch to grant himself a swim speed. They enter the cold water. Sindawe pantomimes, This water is cold. My nipples are hard they could cut glass. They search and find: Wogan locates a large, dark torc made of a glassy material. It is magical. He is unsure what it does. He and Serpent are convinced it is a Shory magic item but it works with something else. Sindawe finds a glass vial, still sealed. He opens it on shore and asks Wogan to check it. The thick bile like liquid causes their eyes to tear up when it is opened. Page 9 of 11
Sindawe finds four large iron spear tips. They are huge, large enough for ballistae or giants. He gifts the rusty, non-magical items to the lizard men. Sindawe finds a helmet of bronze marked with an eight pointed star. Lightly magical protected against time. Wogan finds a clay tablet. It is carved with runes in a flowing script. He casts comprehend languages to read it. Once a day, when read it can provide a 10' diameter barrier against elementals. Sindawe finds a carved stone idol of a five armed god. 5 lbs. Not magical. No one can identify it. Wogan asks the lizard men about it. They answer, Well, I don't know that one but it has the right number of appendages. Incoming Sindawe spots a huge draconic form about a mile away in the air. He warns the others and points. Serpent asks, Should we hide? Sindawe replies, Well, we'll have to run thru the cultivated field to the jungle. I don't think we would make it. The lizard men scramble for the cultivated fields, announcing, Run for the cultivated fields! Its Hestag the Cruel! The pirates follow the lizard men. Cruel decides to eat an elephant that day. The lot of them hide for an hour, then return to the village. Page 10 of 11
Ruins of Ulduvai That morning the pirates cross the river and the dinosaur grazing grounds. They encounter the obelisks about a quarter mile from the city. The runes and glyphs are unreadable; they match some of the symbols on the clay table Wogan discovered yesterday. They radiate law and moderate abjuration magic. They pass the obelisks and climb a hill onto a plateau. A massive inverted horn of purple metal looms over all, shimmering towers of twisted glass, a giant metal cube, a ring of glass, and other alien buildings form the skyline. Other builds lean upon these and lie up on the ground. A low humming comes from the city's center. A pale green mist lies on the ground in the city. Page 11 of 11